I was just dreaming
by Joy Booth
Summary: She was running. Ward was chasing her. She had to get away. He was going to kill her. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have trusted him again. (In the same family as I can't Breath and all of those)


I was just dreaming

She was running. Ward was chasing her. She had to get away. He was going to kill her.

How could she have been so stupid? How could she have trusted him again.

As she ran visions flashed before her eyes. An agent Koenig's body tucked into the ceiling, dripping blood on her. Ward shooting Agent Hand. Fitz and Simmons nearly dying when he dropped them into the ocean. Ward in the holding cell on the BUS. Him taking her to her father.

Suddenly, he caught up to her.

"Come on, Skye, you promised you wouldn't try to kill me anymore," he said as he closed the distance between them.

"That was only when you weren't Hydra," she answered, before emptying her entire clip into him.

Ward Residence, Torrance, California, July 2026

She sat up up with a gasp. Her hands were still shaking.

"Babe, it was just a …"

Whatever he was going to say was cut up by a scream, as Skye leapt from the bed and landed on her feet beside it.

"What's wrong?" he asked again, concern and sleep making his voice rough, like it had been a moment ago… right before she pulled the trigger.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, unable to pull herself from the world that she had just come from.

"Babe? What's going on was it a bad dream? Tahiti again?" he asked gentle moving toward her.

"Stay back," she said taking a step back.

"Skye, you're going to wake Stella," he whispered, keeping his distance.

"Stella…" The name brought new images of Ward, her Ward, her husband holding their baby, but something about the other Ward seemed so real. It felt like it another life she had lived.

She wondered if it was a trick. After Tahiti, she never fully trusted her memories.

Instead she looked around the room, trying to find something she could pinpoint as real. Pictures could faked, so she ignored the frames on the dresser. Instead, she slipped the ring from her finger. There was a tan line, so she must have been wearing it for some time.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" he asked again, watching his wife stare at her wedding ring like it was poison.

"Are you working for Hydra?" she asked.

"What?! Where is this coming from Skye? We've been married for years. How could you think that?" he asked starting toward her, but she grabbed the gun from the biometric safe in the wall.

"You promised you would never lie to me again. Are you now or have you ever worked for Hydra?"

"I…" his voice broke.

Her heart sank. She had so badly wanted to believe in the Ward that was her husband, but it seemed like it was all a lie.

"When I was young, I was recruited by a man. He treated me like a son, or I guess not really, but to me it was very important. He brought me to SHIELD. For years, I ran missions for him. He was my SO. Then, Coulson requested me. I met you, and I joined our team. For a while, I still took orders from the other guy. I thought he was looking out for me, but the more time we spent together, the more I saw him for what he was. I saw what it truly meant to be part of a team, to have a family. The night before we took that first week off, I told Coulson about Garrett. I thought I would be kicked off the team, maybe even wind up in jail, but somehow Coulson saved me. Those times I wasn't around for a few days, I was cleaning house. Finding the other agents Garrett had corrupted. Some of them were like me, just trying to find somewhere they belonged, but some were so far gone, I couldn't save them. I made some bad choices Skye, but you changed me. You showed me that all the stuff in your past doesn't have to make you a bad person. Now will you put the gun down and tell me what's going on, and how you knew about Hydra?"

She released a shuddering breath as he finished his story, but didn't lower the gun. "You were chasing me. You had done all of these terrible things. You had killed so many people, our friends, and I knew that if I let you, I would be next. I knew I was next. I had to do it. I had to pull the trigger." As she spoke her hands started to shake. The more she woke up, the more this life seemed like the real one. She had shot her husband, the love of her life. She had killed him. Ward took the gun and returned it to the safe.

"Do you want to call Coulson? I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Melinda might, but you know she is all bark," he laughed nervously. He had never told his wife how close he had come to the darkness. He knew she would always look at him differently now, and it broke his heart.

"I don't want to wake them," she said looking at the clock on the night stand. She couldn't quite shake the feeling that the other Ward was real. The memories were so vivid. It couldn't be just a dream. Something caught her eye. It was a small piece of Alien tech she had brought home to study. Simmons promised it wasn't dangerous, but they weren't sure exactly what it did.

She picked up the little thing that looked like a coin. It had heads on each side facing different directions. She handed it to Ward, but the second it touched his hand, he fell to the floor. She dropped beside him, trying to shake him.

"Come on Ward!" she yelled, terrified that the Ward who came back might not be hers. He was gone only a minute, when his eyes flew open and he choked on a gasp, his eyes filling with tears.

"Grant?" she asked.

"I saw it too," he whispered, reaching for her hand. "I wish I could say it wasn't me, but if I'm being honest, it could have been."

"But it's not you in this life?"

"No, it's all a dream or something. Do you think it's the coin?" he asked.

"I took it out of my pocket right before I went to bed. Jemma wasn't sure what it did, so I was going to investigate tomorrow."

"And now?"

"Maybe it gives you a glimpse into an alternative time stream… I think we will have to run more tests, but for now I think we should just put it in the safe until morning."

"Agreed," Grant nodded, heaving a sigh as he got to his feet and reopened the safe. Once the coin was secured, they both got back into bed. For several minutes they both lay stiffly listening to the other breath, before Skye sat back up.

"I can't sleep…"

"Grilled cheese?"

"Yes, please," she smiled. In a way that felt so familiar. She pulled a bottle of water and coke from the refrigerator, before she sat down on the stool at the island and watched Ward flit around the kitchen gathering ingredient. They ate in silence until they heard foot steps on the stairs. Both jumped to their feet as Stella walked in.

"Mama, you woke me up. Now, I need water," she mumbled, her eyes barely open.

"I'm sorry, baby," Skye sighed, walking around the island to find a sippy cup. .

"Daddy, nuggle me," Stella said, tugging on Ward's pajama pants.

It took him a minute process what she was saying, but she kept tugging insistently. Part of him didn't want to pick her up. The sins of his past were still fresh in his mind and he didn't want to risk tainting her somehow.

"Daddy!" she said again, practically trying to climb up him.

"Daddy's tired, princess," Skye said as she handed Stella her cup and scooped the little girl into her arms. "Come on, mommy will put you back to bed."

"No, Daddy!" Stella whined, launching herself toward Ward. On instinct, he caught her and hugged her tightly to his chest.

"What have we told you about that?" he asked.

"Don't jump, you could get hurt," Stella recited dutifully. "But Daddy, you always tuck me in, and I had a bad dream."

Both adults looked at each other in horror.

"What was it about?" Skye asked nervously.

"Charlie and Marie ate all the red jelly beans, and they didn't save me any," she said, snuggling into her father's neck. Her parents sighed in relief.

"We will get you some red jelly beans in the morning, Princess," Ward promised.

"But you said jelly beans make you get cavities," Stella mumbled, already half asleep.

"Ok, we will buy jelly beans and a new tooth brush," Ward said as he walked up the stairs. Once he got Stella settled in her bed, he returned to the kitchen to find Skye putting their plates in the dishwasher.

"I can sleep on the couch," he said quietly.

"No, don't be silly." Skye walked over and wrapped him in a hug. "I know the man I married. I love you, Grant Ward. You are not the man in that time, and maybe you could have been, but you chose to be better."

"I am so I chose you," he said, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

"Come on, let's go to bed. We have shopping to do in the morning."


End file.
